Bronze Fennel

OK, so I plant two plants, they are now both 8 feet tall in a single year. All summer the blooms were covered with honey, bumble and sweat bees along with lady bugs etc. I had to harvest blooms late at night, mostly to enhance fruits like peaches. The came the green seeds, good for soups, then the brown seeds for meats. The plant are very productive and huge (2' x 3' x 8' each). I also have two growing in the lawn that are still either blossoming or greens seeds so it is very versatile and does not need exact conditions to grow. Mkae sure you have huge dehydrator to save its huge output. I had 8 trays running earlier to preserve some brown seeds.

This took some weeks (2-3 and some of them a month) to germinate. They stayed relatively small for awhile but once it gets around a foot tall it takes off. It overwintered (in ohio) and this year it's taller than me, it's about 6 foot tall, with huge flower heads and oh boy, the smell!! Even my 3 and 4 yr old eat the leaves. They taste like a fresh licorice and also are sweet. I prefer this over regular fennel any day. The caterpillars do love it, but they never ate enough to kill the plant so I left them on. I tried the leaves in fried cabbage and potatoes and it's a nice flavor. Will try the seeds in cooking this year as it didn't produce seeds it's first year.

This is my 2nd year growing Bronze Smokey Fennel. Last year we discovered that Black Swallowtail caterpillars love it, so this year we grew extra plants to encourage more butterflies. The plants thrive in my sfg and are so beautiful to look at and soft to touch. The new growth is plush and just begs to be touched. The foliage is a great accent in flower vases and lasts a long time. Last year I made the mistake of pulling it up, not realizing it is a perennial. Hopefully my four plants will return next spring. I haven't yet cooked with it, but the smell of the cut stalks is incredibly aromatic. Highly recommend adding this to any garden.